FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23015, 18 April 1938, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO

DEATH OF MATTHEW ARNOLD The sudden death" of the. noted British writer Matthew Arnold 50 year! ago was announced in a cablegram from < London published in the Nkw Zk.vi.and Hkralu of April 18, 18SS. The following is an extract from his obituary notice: — "Altogether one of the best and the best-known of the literary men of the age, Matthew Arnold was the son of the famous scholar and teacher Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, and was celebrated * as a poet, scholar, critic and theologian. He was horn in 1822 and was educated at Winchester, Rugby and Oxford. In. 1857. three years after the publication of his first acknowledged volume of poetry, he was appointed professor of poetry at Oxford. In 1870 he published an essay on political and social criticism entitled "Culture and Anarchy." which caused much stir and in which he - looked to culture for relief from political and social evils. 1 "Arnold's yearning for calm, peace* and beauty, sweetness and light became quite a cult among a certain class. He has rendered great service to education, for many years being a lay inspector of schools, .and he drew up some useful reports as the result of Ins appointment to inquire into the state of education on the Continent.'